We hired Michelle to watch our house (two cats, one dog) for a long weekend. We would like to begin by saying Michelle was communicative initially and made us feel confident that she was equipped to handle our reactive dog (which she seemed to do). She made the two cats comfortable and, all three of our pets enjoyed being around her. That said, we did encounter some challenges during her stay. We requested (verbally and in written instructions twice) that our medium-high energy cattle dog receive two, 30 min walks every day and a before bed potty break. As far as we can tell, she only received two short walks or potty breaks each day, and had to go long periods of time (12 - 14 hours) without peeing. This continued even after we reminded her the first full day the dog needed several potty breaks daily. Frequency was also stated in our booking request, verbally when we met, and in a Google doc with detailed instructions. Michelle initially said she would be around nearly all day each day, excepting the final day which was fine with us. Instead, we saw on our Ring doorbell her leaving for upwards of 10 hours each day. There was lack of communication around this. We were initiating most communication during her stay- admittedly we always feel a bit nervous the first day or two we’re gone. Because we weren’t getting what we felt was important communication, we relied on Ring doorbell footage for what was going on. Finally, our house was not left in the state we left it in. It was by no means trashed, but there was stuff like dirty silverware left in the kitchen sink, hair throughout the bathroom, and makeup dried in our bathroom sink. We hope she considers these items in the future as she sits for other families.

I appreciate the good care you gave my animals, and thanks so much, being last minute. You arrived a bit late initially, and left my animals for nearly 11 hours the next day, I would have liked better communication. I feel your other obligations took away from the quality of this dog sit.